President Donald Trump's push to impose a tariff on imported cars and parts, along with other goods already subject to tariffs, could lead to a U.S. economic depression, some industry experts predict.

"I think it'll push us into a recession or a depression," Gary Shapiro, CEO of Consumer Technology Association, said Thursday at a media lunch in Detroit. Shapiro's organization puts on CES, formerly called the Consumer Electronics Show, the nation's premier technology exhibition held in early January. "It'll put a lot of companies out of business. We're looking at a potentially difficult first quarter if that happens."

Many economists see less dire effects, expecting some transitional pain if tariffs rise.

"For now, the U.S. economy has a good deal of momentum, so it is not clear whether these proposed tariffs would be enough to push the economy into recession," said Charles Ballard, and economics professor at Michigan State University.

"If they are implemented and then quickly removed, they wouldn’t do an enormous amount of damage," he said. "But if they were implemented and kept in place, the longer they stay in place, the more damage they would do. Certainly, they would present a serious challenge to the economy, at a time when there are also other headwinds, such as rising interest rates."

Daniil Manaenkov, a University of Michigan economist, said he didn't expect much damage. "Some businesses will be forced to go out of business, but nothing earth-shattering," he said.

Manaenkov said a lot of companies will force suppliers to relocate their factories from China to more economically favorable countries, or dodge tariffs altogether.

"Such as producing it in China and then you ship it to another country, relabel it to say, 'Made in Vietnam.' It would take a lot of money and people to police that," Manaenkov said. "So you relabel it as you relocate your factories. The U.S. imports from Vietnam have been growing quite fast over the past few years. They actually originated in China."

The Trump administration is considering recommendations from the Commerce Department on whether to impose a 25-percent tariff on vehicles and parts on national security grounds under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. There has no decision and some analysts said the tariff threat is merely a tool to force the European Union and Japan to make trade concessions to the United States.

Trump's 25-percent tariff would apply to $200 billion in imported goods, $20 billion of which is autos and parts, said U-M's Manaenkov,

The implementation of higher auto tariffs would undermine the potential success of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Jennifer Thomas, vice president of government affairs for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers said Thursday at a U.S. International Trade Commission, Reuters reported.

"They would also pose a material threat to the economy and may result in the loss of as many as 700,000 jobs across the U.S.," said Thomas.

Manaenkov said that it might take six to nine months for U.S. businesses to adjust to the fallout of the higher tariffs.

"We don't see anything apocalyptic like the loss of 700,000 jobs," he said.

Cars will cost more, though. Most consumers will pay $3,000 to $4,000 per car more as a result of the ongoing trade war, even for vehicles built in the U.S. because of the use of imported parts, said Kristin Dziczek, vice president of Industry, Labor & Economics at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.

Also, automakers have warned that their costs to build and subsequently sell new cars will rise. That's because every car assembled in the U.S. contains a large percentage of foreign parts. Toyota has said the costs of its cars could rise by thousands. General Motors has said it would be forced to downsize and cut jobs.